OONCHS. WHALES. 239 



chiefly prized for its beautiful shell, the color of which is a light 

 cream profusely mottled with brown umber and black. Its rarity 

 and beauty secures for it a relatively very high price. 



The Queen Conch is far more common than the King Conch, 

 and its shell is larger in size and somewhat smoother in outline. 

 The back of the shell is pure white, and the tip a yellow tint, 

 v/hile the interior is a dark brown. It is extensively used in the 

 manufacture of cameos. 



The Ticist Conch, {triton tritoius), is very rare and always com- 

 mands from visitors a high price. It is regular in form and 

 beautifully mottled with brown and wine colors. Mr. Phelps 

 deems it unquestionably the most exquisitely beautiful shell of 

 its size found in the Bahamas. 



A separate volume with illustrations, would be required to do 

 anything like justice to the small mollusks whose shells pave and 

 adorn the shores of the Bahamas. 



Mr. Bruce in the work from which we have already quoted, 

 published nearly a century and a-half ago, expresses the opinion 

 that, *' a beneficial whale fishery might be established here, [in 

 the Bahamas,] as that fish comes in great numbers to wean their 

 young among the islands, and several have been thrown ashore 

 full of spermaceti." While we were at Port Royal, S. C, re- 

 cently, we learned that several vessels from that vicinity are 

 now prosecuting a successful business in capturing whales off 

 that coast. Between Nassau and Florida, we also occasionally 

 observed specimens of that great mammal of the ocean, which 

 has done so much to dispel the darkness of the civilized portion 

 of the world. 



In taking leave of the Bahama fishes, so far as unsatisfactory 

 })rinted descriptions are concerned, it is a consolation to know 

 that they and their gorgeous surroundings will continue with us 

 through life — for memory has embalmed them. The poet sings 



